Newt Gingrich thinks presidential polls are wrong

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he no longer believes in the presidential polls, saying the odds are very high that Republican nominee Donald Trump can defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton if he stays on message and sticks to both the teleprompter and big ideas.

“I think the polls are wrong,” Mr. Gingrich said on Fox News Thursday night. “I think they verge on irrelevant and misleading for a lot of different reasons. Nobody can tell you what the turnout is going to be. Nobody can tell you which people are going to be the most motivated.”

The Real Clear Politics average of polls showsMrs. Clinton leading Mr. Trump by 6 percentage points nationally and up in most battleground states.

Mr. Gingrich said voters are more likely to say they support Mr. Trump if they respond to an automated call as compared to taking poll questions from a live operator.

He questioned whether African-American voters will back Hillary Clinton as strongly as they supported President Obama and said he expects late-deciders to break Mr. Trump’s way following his third debate performance.

A CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers found that Mrs. Clinton bested Mr. Trump by a 52 to 39 percent margin, which was closer than the first two debates.

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“If he can stay discipline, stay on message, continue to use the teleprompter, continue to stay big, talk about big ideas, big issues, a big difference with Hillary, I think the odds are very high that he is going to end up winning this race,” Mr. Gingrich said.